


Risks Taken

by azurefishnets



Series: Risk and Reward [1]
Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: But Alma is gonna figure this mystery out, F/M, Feelings Realization, Jowd's being an ass what else is new, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 03:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurefishnets/pseuds/azurefishnets
Summary: Alma knows something that Cabanela would rather she did not.





	Risks Taken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Siver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siver/gifts).

Alma made her determined way through the crowds that surrounded the precinct offices. Lunch time on a beautiful day like this generally presaged walkers heading to restaurants, and she knew a certain investigator likely wouldn’t be able to resist the siren call of the hot new little place that had opened a mere bike ride away. Sure enough, she saw him soon enough, walking energetically (as if there was any other way for him to walk) toward the bicycle racks.

She breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been dodging her calls for weeks and she’d been worried that even if she showed up unannounced at his office, he’d find a way to dodge her again. This way, she was prepared. She strolled up next time just as he straightened with a growl, his own bike lock in his hands but the one she’d placed on his bike earlier still intact. His mouth was open, possibly to yell something rude at whoever he thought was playing pranks, but it snapped shut when he saw her.

“Well, heeello there, baby, here to bring Jowd some well-deserved lunch?” he said instead, re-securing the lock on the rack in a smooth motion that he probably hoped looked totally natural, but to Alma, reading him like a book, only belied his sudden tension.

“Oh, no, I made sure Jowd had his lunch today,” Alma replied, hiding a smile as she watched him trying to figure out how to get the other lock off without making a fuss in front of her. “I thought it would be nice if we could have a little chat though, you and me.” She held out the stylishly wrapped to-go box from the aforementioned hot little place and a bottle of his favorite drink. “Maybe we could find someplace nearby to talk and eat?”

Cabanela gave her a teasing, faux-scandalized look. “Just us, baby? What _would _people say?”

“When has that ever stopped you?” Alma smiled back placidly. He was on the hook now, and she would reel him in. He wasn’t escaping this time.

“I was just gonna make it a quick one,” Cabanela said, adjusting his scarf. “Busy day today, veeery busy, and I’d hate to run out on you when it was just gettin’ good, baby, so why don’t we plan for another time?”

“Oh, but I’m here now,” Alma retorted, “and this is too good an opportunity to waste. But if you’re in such a hurry, we could just go on back in and to your office. Shame to waste such a pretty day, but I’d hate to keep you.”

As she knew he would, he protested, “Always time for my best friend’s wife, baby! It’s just—“

“It’s just that you’re avoiding me and you’re not sure how to make it clear,” Alma said, letting the hurt show as she tired of the game. It was time to lay the cards on the table. “You and Jowd have to work with each other so he says you’re making it work, but we used to be good friends, you and I, beyond that. I don’t understand what changed. Did I do something—?”

“No! No, baby, you’re flawless.” His shocked protest seemed genuine even as he drew himself in. “You and Jowd are perfect.”

“I can assure you we’re not,” Alma said wryly. “Jowd has been… well, you’ve seen. Something happened, a couple of months ago, and things have been strange between the three of us ever since. I was hoping I could recruit you to help me talk to him.”

Cabanela looked away. “It’s all just work stuff, baby. Made a little mistake, Jowd fixed it for me, everything’s sunshiiine and roses.”

“So… you’re avoiding Jowd because he saved you? And avoiding me, because…”

“Well, baby, can’t have you tarred with the same brush, now can we? Jowd’s gonna be the police chief someday, he can’t have stains on that dreadful green monstrosity he wears.”

“You? A stain?” Alma, blinked, then laughed. “Cabanela, have you seen your friend? He drops ketchup or greasy chicken on his shirt and goes on with his day like it’s got nil to do with him, or would if I’d let him. I’ve had to add weekly dry-cleanings of _all _his work clothes to the monthly budget. You’re nothing compared to that.”

“Yes, I know.” A smile, hard and tight, flickered across his face. “That’s more than clear.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Alma protested, putting a hand on his arm. “I just meant—“

“Baby, I know what you meant,” he said, drawing away and up, separating himself again. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I can’t help but worry about you! This is more than work related, I know it!” Alma burst out, grabbing his hand and turning him back to face her. “We miss you! Even Jowd is worried!”

The shock flickered across his face so quickly Alma wasn’t sure she’d actually seen it. “He is? But I thought—“

“He’s your best friend, Cabs. What do you think that means? You give him everything and he deals with you when it’s convenient? It doesn’t work that way!”

“I’d give him—you both!—everything and more! I don’t neeed anything else!” Cabanela said, too quickly, and snatched his hand away as if she’d burned him, turning away. “I have to go back inside, baby. Lunch is about over and I’ve got work to do.”

Alma looked up at the clock. They’d been there barely five minutes. “I don’t understand—wait.” Her eyes widened, watching him as he attempted to saunter at high speed back up the steps and into the precinct offices. She shot forward, placing herself bodily in front of him. “_Wait,_ I said. What did you mean by that?”

“By what, baby?” Cabanela said carelessly. “That I’ve got work to do? Busy busy day at the precinct, got plenty on my plate. What’s lunch next to that?”

“No. That you’d give us everything. What—?”

He flapped a hand. “That’s nooothing, just like you said.”

“Cabanela.” Alma put a hand on his chest as she looked into his eyes, forcing him to look into hers. “Are you telling me that you’re in love with Jowd?”

“Wooouldn’t matter if I was! That’s my business and none of yours.” He stared down at her, eyes searching her face as if he were memorizing her. “Nice to see you, baby, let’s do this again never.” He sidestepped around her, ignoring her protests, and dashed away as soon as he was clear, waving the bicycle lock key he’d evidently managed to pilfer without knowing. Although she called him over and over the rest of that afternoon, his phone stayed unanswered.

By the time Jowd got home, Alma had gotten past her initial confusion, shot through frustration, and settled into simple determination. This called for planning, and a bit of a delicate conversation with Jowd. She made sure Kamila was down for a nap before she met him at the door with a kiss. As had become their new normal, he looked her over with a careful eye, as if he was assessing her for injuries, before burying his face in her hair. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, but pulled away after he showed no signs of letting go.

“Jowd. Jowd!” He mumbled something into her hair. “What…? I can’t understand you. We have to talk… let’s go and sit down, shall we?” She pushed at him, gently trying to get him to move.

He lifted up his head and stepped away to take off his coat and hang it up. “I said, Cabanela gave his two-week resignation this afternoon.”

“What?” Alma stared at him, shock radiating from her. “Why?”

He shook his head. “Who knows why he does what he does? He came back from lunch, disappeared into his office, and made the announcement an hour later. Said he was going to go do the private investigator route.” He scrubbed a hand through the fluff of hair. “He didn’t talk to me about it.” His eyes were full of hurt, although his voice, when he spoke again, was dry. “I suppose he got tired of us mere mortals and saw a better opportunity.”

Upstairs, Kamila started to cry, her angry wails ringing through the kitchen via the baby monitor. Alma jumped, then told him, “I’ll be right back down and then I have to tell you something, OK? Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll be here.”

She could feel his stare as she walked up the stairs, the tiny black kitten they’d recently adopted politely moving out of her way with a chirp as he trotted down them, presumably to get food from Jowd. Given that he wouldn’t accept food from her, she could only find it in her heart to be glad that he seemed to trust Jowd at least.

When she came back down after having fed Kamila and soothed her back into some kind of sleep, she paused a moment on the stairs. Jowd was talking to someone. Had Cabanela come to visit after all? But his voice was too distinctive. Alma would have heard him even upstairs. No, Jowd was talking to himself again. She frowned, listening hard. He’d been doing this for months now, almost a year. Had a work issue really turned him on his head this way? And Cabanela – had he been in love with Jowd all along and she’d just noticed? Or had she purposefully ignored it? Instinctively, had she decided Cabanela was no threat to her marriage?

“This isn’t happening like it did before.” Jowd said to the air. She’d never heard him speak so bitterly, not in her presence. “He’s leaving, and it’s my fault.” He appeared to listen for a moment. “Yes, I’m aware the whole point is for things to change, thanks. But I wasn’t—” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Last time I covered it up and we went on. But this time, even though it’s covered, I can’t stop remembering, and it changes things.” He blinked. “Like the way we talk or work together. I don’t know, Sissel, I don’t know how to explain it to a cat.”

The cat? He was talking to the cat? Alma put her hands to her mouth to hide a gasp, she wasn’t sure of relief or irritation. Talking to the cat was one thing but she was his wife. Why didn’t he feel he could talk to her?

Jowd, unaware of her frustration, still sat talking to the kitten, lying motionless except for the occasional ear twitch on his lap, as if it were listening intently. Alma dithered for a moment, but she needed more information. Cabanela or no Cabanela, _this _was an issue between her and her husband and it needed to be solved. Pasting a bright smile on her face, she walked around the corner.

“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” she said cheerfully, walking into the living room. “Just a little fussy. Got her settled with the judicious application of a little mother’s love and a changed diaper.”

Jowd didn’t look up, but kept staring morosely into the middle distance. “That’s good.”

Alma sat down. “Jowd…” she hesitated, but it had to be said. If she waited, she’d lose her nerve. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

“We’re talking now, aren’t we?” Jowd looked down at the kitten, which had evidently fallen asleep, judging by how limp it looked in his lap. He gave it a small scratch behind the ears, absently, and sighed.

“Are we? I’m talking to you, but you’re doing that thing where you deflect. You’ll talk to the cat, but not your wife, or, apparently, your best friend…” Alma took his hand, stopping it from its nervous patting of the kitten. “It’s been almost a year since whatever happened, happened. I thought it was going to get better in time, but it’s just gotten worse. I- I can’t bear to see you this way.”

“Me?” Jowd blinked, then threw back his head and laughed. “I’m fine. More than fine. I have the best wife, the best daughter…” He sobered. “And the best friend a man like me could ask for, or I did. Things change, people change. Maybe it was always going to be this way.”

“I don’t understand.” Alma clenched her hands in her lap. “Why won’t you just speak plainly? Why are you making me dig for this?”

He gave her a brief smirk. “Because “this” isn’t worth all this frustration. It’s on me, and that’s where it should stay.”

“Then why am I here?” Alma said sharply. “If you’re not going to let me or even Cabanela help you when you’re in trouble or upset, then… then, why keep us around at all?”

He looked at her, puzzled. “You two are the ones keeping _me _around. Well, you are. Cabanela’s an entirely different story.”

Alma hesitated again. By rights, it should be Cabanela who told Jowd about his feelings. But she knew her husband and, she thought, Cabanela as well. If she let them work it out, it never would be, and Cabanela would dance out of their lives as precipitately as he’d danced into it. With a shock, Alma knew that she did not want that, not at all, and she would do whatever it took to prevent it from happening. The question was, would Jowd?

For now, Jowd clearly wasn’t going to let himself be cajoled into talking. She needed help with that, but she needed Jowd’s help with Cabanela as well. They needed to work together, but how she was to get these two stubborn men to admit to any part of that need was a mystery. Did she dare tell Jowd what she’d learned, and confess at the same time to her own feelings on the matter? Their peace seemed so fragile, even though she didn’t truly know why. She worried that if broke now, it would be shattered for all time, and she’d never know the real reasons. She couldn’t have that either.

“I… went to see Cabanela today,” she finally admitted, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to ask him about… well, about why he’s avoiding us, and, um… to see if you were being a little more forthcoming with him than me.”

Jowd’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “And something happened?”

Alma’s world tilted. He _knew._ She knew that look. He might not have known the details but he knew what Cabanela felt. How? Why was he letting him go?

“Well, yes.” Another deep breath. She could do this. “How long have you known that Cabanela is in love with you?”

His blue eyes shuttered, locking down some primal emotion that had leapt in them the instant she asked the question. “What kind of question is that?”

“The right one, apparently,” Alma retorted. “So does this have something to do with what happened?”

“Uh…” Jowd’s eyes slid away from hers. “Not exactly. Cabanela… made a mistake, and then I did too. A lot happened.”

Alma spread her hands in a gesture of frustration. “Which you won’t tell me about, but netted us an emotional support cat that refuses to be touched by anyone but you and apparently is losing you your best friend anyway. I don’t understand what consequence could be worse!”

He mumbled something, his nervous hands stilling on the much-maligned kitten.

“What?” Alma said. She leaned forward, forcing him to look at her. “Jowd. Please, just tell me.”

“I could lose _you_ again!” he burst out, standing up. The kitten began to fall in a way that seemed oddly boneless, but midair caught itself and landed with a thump, trotting away with an indignant mrrowl.

“What?” Alma looked up. “But… you haven’t lost me. I’ve been here. I haven’t gone anywhere!” She stood up too, eyes filling with frustrated tears. “Gods, I’m so upset with you right now!” she burst out. “You let me sit here and wait and wonder and _worry _and then… poor Cabanela doesn’t even have the, at the moment admittedly rather questionable, benefit of living with you. He just has to sit there and suffer as you ignore us both! And then there’s the cat. You don’t want to lose me so you talk to a cat _instead_ of me? I don’t understand! I don’t understand why you don’t _want _me to understand!”

“Alma, I—“ Jowd swallowed. “No. You’re right. You should take Kamila and go.”

Alma growled. “That’s not what I’m saying at all! None of us want to lose you either, you big idiot, so why? Why would you say that? Why would you let Cabanela go and then try to push me and your daughter away too?”

“To protect you,” Jowd said, his tone oddly flat. “I’m giving you all that I know to give you.”

“You’re giving to us by removing yourself? That makes no sense.”

“It’s all I know how to do!” Jowd said, his frustration finally showing through the façade of bleak disinterest he’d tried to maintain. “I thought I knew how to do this. I thought a second chance would be enough. But I don’t know how to give you what you need from me.”

“We’re married! What I need is for you to love me enough to trust me,” Alma pleaded.

“I do trust you!”

“_This isn’t trust!” _Alma said fiercely. “You treating me as if I can’t and won’t love you, no matter what, is more insulting than you saying outright you don’t love me anymore. And that’s what I need to know more than anything.” Alma tried to calm down, her breath hitching. “Do you love me enough to trust me?”

Jowd was very, very silent for a timeless moment, his eyes trained on hers. She held her breath. At last, he said, “I’m so sorry.” He chuckled, a bleak snort that had nothing to with humor. “Truly sorry, but… yes, I love you. More than anything.”

“Never be sorry for that,” Alma breathed. “Then you’ll—?”

“Yes. I’ll tell you everything, if that’s truly what you want.”

Alma slid her arms around his neck, still looking into his eyes. “It is, and I’m more than sure the same goes for Cabanela. I think… I think you should tell us both what’s bothering you.”

He blinked. “You know, most women would be upset that someone else is in love with their husband.”

“You didn’t marry me because I’m most women,” Alma said with a toss of her head. “But… I suppose I should ask the same question, the one about trust and… and love, on his behalf?” 

“I—“ he hesitated. “It’s complicated, and it has a lot to do with what happened. But if I had to say… I suppose I’m sorry for him as well.” He gave her a curious look. “Should I ask the obvious question in return?”

Alma’s cheeks burned a dull red, and she inwardly cursed her pale skin, which had never let her hide an emotion and apparently wasn’t going to start now. “It’s still new to me to even think this way. He was my very good friend and I hope that hasn’t changed. But… if you’re asking me whether I love him?”

Jowd nodded. Alma could feel the butterflies, but she owed him and herself the honesty of an answer. “I think I could learn to, if we gave it a chance. I love you, and I trust you. I’ve seen how he loves you and trusts you, and I certainly trust him. If he trusts me as well... maybe that could be enough.”

“I can’t believe I’m asking this, but does that mean you want to give it that chance?”

Alma hesitated, then nodded. “But I mean it, I want you to tell us what’s bothering you. And no holding back.”

Jowd swallowed hard, but at last, he gave a nod.

“Then tell us both at the same time,” Alma said without hesitation. “I want to call him right now. Would you be all right with that?”

“What if he doesn’t answer?”

“We’ll get a babysitter, and then we’ll go find him.” Alma gave him her best determined face. “Enough waiting, Jowd.”

He smiled at her, the first open smile she’d seen from him in months, and kissed her.

“What?” Alma said, when he let her up for air. “What did I say?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Jowd sighed. “Just—I suppose love wasn’t the blind one after all.” He looked away, somewhere into a past, or possibly a future. “I didn’t want you to see me, but no matter when I go, you always do.”

“And I always will.” Alma hugged him fiercely. “Let’s call Cabanela.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Trick or Treat 2019! Because I'm constitutionally unable to write short, please take this full size candy bar of a treat and I hope you enjoy it.


End file.
